This year, World Breastfeeding Week coincides with a major milestone for mothers: on August 1, the women’s preventive health provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) go into full effect. Every new insurance policy will now begin covering breastfeeding equipment and lactation support services without co-pays.

Leading professional groups recommend exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life, with some breastfeeding continuing through at least the first year. That’s because of the tremendous health benefits to both women and children – including lower rates of infections, obesity, sudden infant death syndrome and asthma in children and reduced risk of breast and ovarian cancers in mothers.

while 61% of women intended to exclusively breastfeed as they approached the end of pregnancy, just 51% were exclusively breastfeeding one week after birth

only 46% of women breastfed as long as they had wanted

16% of employed mothers reported that breastfeeding issues were “a major challenge” in the transition to employment.

Eliminating the cost of skilled breastfeeding support means more women can get support and information to prepare for breastfeeding, proper assessment in the early postpartum period, and help troubleshooting any breastfeeding problems that arise. Eliminating the cost of breast pumps can help women exclusively breastfeed even after returning to employment or other duties.

Childbirth Connection is pleased to celebrate World Breastfeeding Week and the health reform preventive services milestone with our sister organizations working to improve the health of women and families. Here are some links to more information.

For more about the new health law and coverage for preventive services like breastfeeding support, visit Countdown to Coverage, the public awareness campaign by Raising Women’s Voices. You can find out more about when your health plan might begin covering breastfeeding supports and other women’s preventive services. (Some new health plans may not incorporate these provisions until their new plan year begins on January 1, 2013. Existing health plans may not have to comply for another year or so. You may want to call your health insurance plan to ask when these provisions will go into effect. )

From the blog

New Report: Hormonal Physiology of Childbearing
The country's maternity care system is missing opportunities to provide better care and use resources more wisely by routinely intervening in labor and delivery in ways that interfere with, instead of promoting, supporting and protecting, innate... [read more]

The preeminent medical journal The Lancet has just released its Midwifery Series, a major project to take stock of the contribution of midwifery to the well-being of childbearing women and newborns. All content from this remarkable Series is freely available after complimentary journal registration.
Four papers from large multi-national... [read more]

The quality of maternity care in our country is poor. Childbirth costs more in the United States than in any other developed country, but our maternal and child health outcomes lag behind those of other countries. Too many babies are born at low birth weight. The rates of maternal... [read more]